The Power of the Silumas

Jump after jump, Io is still dodging Alet’s fireballs.

“Tch, how many fireballs will you throw? Looks like this magic has the least energy to cast. I have to start closing the gap.” With that plan in mind, Io starts jumping high in the air.

With the physical power advantage, Io charges towards Alet. With one falling motion, he can block every fireball with his hand using a punching motion. After Io feels Alet is close enough, he throws his right fist. One again Alet blocks it with her sword.

“Are you really going to punch me over and over again? Let me tell you, this magical sword is not something you can break with your fist.” Say Alet with great enthusiasm.

“Yeah! I can clearly see that. I never doubt every magical weapon created by the Caplas.”.

“Hyah!” Alet swing her sword at Io, with the same tactic she will create a gap with him to cast her magic.

But this time, Io only dodge and block Alet’s attack, the sound of two metal hitting each other can be heard. Ms. Claire watches the match carefully while all the students are cheering for Alet as the close combat continues. “Since Io uses his body a lot, there is only one way to stop him. I have to aim for his joints.”. After blocking a punch, Alet steps backward and swings her hand.

“Water strike!” shout Alet.

A water dagger came out of her hand and flew toward Io’s left shoulder. He is late to react to her attack and her strike hits his left shoulder.

“Ahck!” shout Io as he jumps backward. “Even there is this shield, it still hurt like being hit by the real one. I have to do something.”. While thinking for a plan to strike, he grabs his left shoulder. Although there is no blood coming out of it but the feel is a real deal. Before he can proceed with what to do next, the ground around him starts to rumble. “An earthquake? No! This is a spell!” Io tries to dodge it but he is too late to realize what happened. Soon a stone pillar started to shoot upward, sending Io flying through the sky. He fall down and hit the ground. “N-not good, I-I have to stand up.”.

“Come on now, I don’t want to hurt you even further.” Said Alet as she sees Io trying to get back up.

“No! I will not give up that easily, I will finish it until my last breath!”.

“Let's finish this.”.

Alet casting a magic portal that summoning a giant rock above Io.

“O-oi she is not going to kill him isn’t she?” said one of the students shaking in fear.

“Take this!” Alet swung her hands downward and the giant rock started to fall with a great velocity, it created a fire in front of it as it fell, making it look like a meteor.

A loud sound and a shockwave were created, sending a blowing wind to the field. Ms. Claire couldn't believe what she saw, so she started calling for the school nurses to help Io. But before she finished the call, a rumbling sound created from the ground. Everyone is confused and starts looking around to see what is happening.

“What!? Is he? There is no way.” Alet turned her back toward the rock she created.

Soon a feline figure could be seen throughout the smoke.

“Hey! Where do you think you are going? We are not done here!” Shouted Io.

Everyone's eyes are wide open, “how did he survive that?” Everyone is shocked and doubting their eyes upon seeing Io standing there. His face changed, his eyebrows meeting each other and his stare sent shivers to every single person standing there including Alet. His eyes also glow with orange color and his face is looking more serious than before. This is the secret that the Manushas and the Caplas didn’t know about the Silumas. The Silumas called this peak. The reason they call it peak is, this state is only active when a Siluma is at his peak of focus, when in danger or near death. Peak also can be manually activated by training to stay calm and focus during a battle.

“You have activated my peak. Now there is no going back.” Said Io in a more sinister voice than usual.

Io rushed toward Alet with a very fast motion. Alet chose to swing his sword to attack because Io moves with a singular motion toward her, but her sword never met its target. Io throws a thousand punches into Alet; some of the punches are hit and some are blocked by her sword.

“Enough!” She flies upward and comes back down as a powerful wind blows around her, this forces Io to jump backward.

Once again she cast fireball but Io absorbs it. The other thing at peak state, the Siluma will move very fast and look like they are blinking from one place to another, making a projectile-typed attack look absorbed and useless. “What is happening? My fireballs are useless. Whatever, I will throw as many as possible to buy some time.”. Sadly, Alet’s plan is useless, Io charging at her while dodging all the fireballs. She threw it rapidly and she forgot about her distance. She threw one last fireball near her feet making an explosion and blinding her vision caused by the smoke. Before she can react, Io is already standing in front of her, ready to throw a powerful punch. The ground is breaking and a powerful wind blows. Everyone gasps, they cannot see what happens between them. After the wind stopped, Alet standing there with Io missed his punch above her right shoulder. Alet’s legs shaking as she was really scared that her life almost flashes when he is about to throw the punch. Everyone, including Ms. Claire, freezes in place. Alet falls to the ground.

“I know your meteor can kill me if I don't dodge it, even though you try to finish me anyway, I still hold my punch there. If my punch hits you in the face, your head will explode into small pieces and send you to the afterlife.” Io said, his voice also starting to return to normal.

Io walks to the changing room and leaves Alet sitting on the ground. After he went inside, everyone started to chatter about his behavior. Ms. Claire stops the duel and declares Io as the winner. As Alet walked to the side of the field, she felt something wrong with Io and decided to meet him after the training.

Meanwhile Io is mad to himself.

“Damn it Io! You really are the worst!” he shouted and slammed his fist to the washroom wall. “How can I recover my old self if I’m still like this?” He continues to curse himself knowing that he always activates the peak state while he is angry and his childhood friend leaves him because they don’t want to be the victim of Io’s wrath.

“I should apologize to her, she must be really scared.” thought Io as he calmed his rage.

The training is over, everyone is back to the changing room. The boys are keeping distance with Io, well nobody one to start trouble anyway. Ms. Claire gives an announcement that everyone gets to go home after they finish changing to get some rest. Walking out the changing room, Alet is already standing in front of the boys room waiting for Io. After a while Io shows up and he tries to ignore her.

“Where are you going? You think you can just leave a girl after you throw that punch at me?”. Said Alet angrily as she grabs Io’s left arm.

“A-Alet! I didn’t mean to, I just-”.

“Just what? You miss your punch on purpose, you said you will not hold back when we are in a duel.”.

“About that, please forgive me, that punch can really kill you. Even if there is the magical shield, it is still going to pierce it. I-I don’t want to kill anybody from this class.”.

Hearing that answer, Alet knows he is being serious. She didn’t want to confront him anymore since she was hesitant about the magical shield. She still has a little information about Io fighting style, she never met an opponent that fought with only their hands.

“Fine, I forgive you for now. But you still owe me.” Said Alet after taking a deep breath.

“O-okay, anything, I’ll do anything to pay for it.” Io replied nervously.

“You have to be my personal trainer.”.

“Eh? E-EHHH!!? Are you serious!?” I was shocked by her request.

“Yes. And you also owe me a ride home.”.

“A-ah, about that…”.